LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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BANGOR, MAINE. 

Interesting Facts 
Briefly Told* 




ISSUED BY THE 



BANGOR BOARD OF TRADE 

1906 



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C. H. GLASS & CO., PBINXEBS, BANOOB 



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BANGOR 



Compiled by E. M. Blanding, 
Secretary Bangor Board of Trade. 



Bangor is the most easterly city of its size in 
the United States. 

It is located nearer the geographical centre of 
Maine than any other city. 

It is the largest city on the largest river in the 
largest state in New England. 

It is universally conceded to be one of the best 
lighted cities on the entire globe. 

It manufactures a larger amount of high grade 
cigars than any other city or town in Maine, 

It has the largest picture frame establishment in 
Maine and one of the largest in New England. 

It is admirably located for shipbuilding and many 
fine vessels have been constructed in this vicinity. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture of 
clothing and many establishments are located here. 

In the immediate vicinity of Bangor is located the 
orly factory for the manufacture of torpedoes in 
Maine. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture of 
paper boxes and shipments are made all over this 
region. 

It is one of the few cities in the country that owns 
both its water works and its municipal electric light- 
ing plaj^t. 



^ r 



It has numerous and flourishing spring bed man- 
ufactories and this product enjoys a vade distribution. 

It is about the only city on the globe where salmon 
fly fishing can be practised successfully within the city 
limits. 

It has the largest trunk manufactory in New Eng- 
land and trunks are shipped out of the state by the 
trainload. 

It has in the Bangor House the largest hotel in 
Maine open all the year round for the entertainment 
of guests. 

It is admirably located for the harvesting and 
shipping of ice, and Penobscot river ice has no superior 
the world over. 

It has the largest taxidermy establishment in 
America and the products are shipped from here all 
over the globe. 

It has one of the finest half-mile tracks in New 
England and each fall the Eastern Maine State Fair 
is holden here. 

It is the largest centre for the manufacture of 
moccasins in the country and they are shipped all 
over North America. 

It justly claims to have raised the first company 
of volunteers that enlisted in the United States to put 
down the Rebellion. 

It has in the new concrete car stable of the Bangor 
Railway & Electric Company the first edifice of its 
kind erected in Maine. 

It is a trade centre and shipping point for a large 
and rich agricultural section and for many thriving 
industrial communities. 



It has in the buildings recently erected by the 
Eastern Steamship Co., the largest and finest steam- 
ship terminals in Maine. 

It has the only large establishment for the manu. 
facture of saws in Maine and saws are shipped from 
here all over the Northeast. 

Within a radius of a dozen miles of the city are 
manufactured more canoes than are made in any 
other part of the United States. 

It is noted for the number and excellence of its 
woodworking establishments and the products there- 
from enjoy a wide distribution. 

Its schools are unsurpassed by any New England 
city, while its system of parks will compare favorably 
with any municipality of its size. 

It has in the Auditorium the largest exhibition 
and convention hall in Maine and here each fall is held 
the Eastern Maine Music Festival. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture 
of boots and shoes and the footwear manufactured here 
is shipped all over the United States. 

It has manufacturing establishments numbering 
about 300, embracing many abd diverse industries, 
and employing several thousand hands. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture of 
stoves, ranges and furnaces, two of the largest plants 
in Maine in these lines being located here. 

It is widely known as a publishing centre, there 
being issued here regularly two daily newspapers, a 
semi-weekly, two weeklies and two monthlies. 

It has a large and steadily expanding wholesale 
trade, many and important jobbing houses being 
located here, and it is also a flourishing retail centre. 



Building operations in Bangor both on new con- 
struction and repair work have been more extensive 
the present year than ever before in the city's history. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture 
of axes and edge tools and also for cant dogs, more of 
the latter being made here than anywhere else in the 
east. 

It is a centre for the manufacture of saw mill 
machinery and a large amount of repair work is also 
done by the extensive machine works established 
here. 

It is the home of the Bangor Theological Seminary 
and the University of Maine Law School, and distant 
only nine miles by electric road is the University of 
Maine. 

The Penobscot River as a scenic water highway 
has no superior and the sail from Bangor to the ocean 
is unsurpassed in picturesqueness by the Hudson or 
the Rhine. 

It is the home of the Eastern Maine General Hos- 
pital and the Eastern Maine Insane Hospital; the 
Bangor City Farm is one of the best appointed in 
New England. 

It has a population of about 25,000 and with its 
immediate environs about 40,000, while Penobscot 
County of which it is the capital, has a population of 
upwards of 76,000. 

It has a fine harbor, easily accessible and entirely 
safe for vessels of large size, there being several 
miles of deep water frontage and the docks at High 
Head afford excellent facilities for the larger craft, 
either steam or sail, engaged in foreign commerce 
and the ocean carrying trade. 



Bangor has the honor of having nine towns named 
for it located in California, Washington, Kansas, So. 
Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Kentucky, North Carolina 
and Prince Edward Island. 

It is to have in the new railway passanger station 
now building here by the Maine Central Railroad the 
largest railway passenger station in Maine and one of 
the finest in New England. 

It is a point of convergence for numerous impor- 
tant railway and steamship lines and a consequent 
tarrying place for great numbers of tourists, sports- 
men and commercial travelers. 

It is an important centre for the manufacture of 
crackers, and here are located two large establish- 
ments, one of them being among the largest of its 
kind in Northern New England. 

It has two strong and flourishing marine insur- 
ance companies with a total capital of $200,000, and 
"assets aggregating $724,553. These are the only 
Maine marine insurance companies in the state. 

Bangor's loyalty to the flag is strikingly illustrated 
in the erection at Mount Hope Cemetery in 1864 of 
the first soldiers' monument to be reared in the mem- 
ory of those who fell in the war of the Rebellion. 

It has one of the finest Opera Houses in the state ; 
the Y. M. C. A. building is one of the handsomest 
edifices of its kind in New England, and the Penob- 
scot County Court House is a very creditable structure. 

i An important industry of this vicinity is the man- 
ufacture of pulp and paper, and the immense pulp 
and paper mills located along the Penobscot have a 
daily capacity of 410 tons of paper and 635 tons of 
pulp. 



It is at the head of navigation on the Penobscot 
River which is the largest river in the state and drains 
a territory'' 8,200 square miles in extent, all within the 
limits of the state. 

It is noted for the number and excellence of its 
hotels and being midway between Bar Harbor and 
Moosehead Lake is a favorite resort of tourists during 
the summer months. 

It is the gateway to the great fish and game resorts 
of the north and east, the shipments of big game 
through this city in a single year aggregating 5,295 
deer and 191 moose. 

It is an important center of the brick-making 
industry and in Bangor and the adjoining city of 
Brewer many millions of brick are made annually, 
shipments being made all over New England and 
beyond. 

It is the natural gateway to the Northeast and 
the territory tributary to the city includes the five 
great counties of Penobscot, Piscataquis, Aroostook, 
Washington and Hancock, and portions of Waldo 
and Somerset. 

The number of vessels of all classes registered or 
enrolled at the port of Bangor is eighty-seven, includ- 
ing seventy-eight sailing vessels, seven steamers, and 
two steam yachts, with an aggregate tonnage of 
20,691 net tons. 

The city's valuation is steadily expanding, and 
according to the assessor's books is now $18,488,213 
against $15,817,118 in 1900. The total number of polls 
is 6692 against 6061 in 1900. The total number of 
persons of school age from 5 to 12 years is 7196 for 
1906 against 5704 in 1905. 



The Bangor Gas Light Company has a capacity 
of one hundred million cubic feet of gas annually. The 
consumption the past year aggregated forty million 
cubic feet, an increase of 60^ in ten years. There 
are thirty-five miles of gas mains. 

• It is supplied with water drawn from the Penob- 
scot by the Holly System. The Bangor Water Works 
have a daily pumping capacity of 13,000,000 gallons 
with forty-six miles of water pipes and affording at 
the same time admirable fire protection. 

It has in the City Hall an edifice that is a credit to 
the city, and the Public Library, soon to be built on 
an eligible site, will be one of the handsomest and 
most elaborate in Maine, the fund available for build- 
ing purposes now being in excess of $130,000. 

■ The Bangor Public Library according to an official 
bulletin recently issued by the U. S. Census Bureau, 
ranks third among cities of its class, there being only 
two cities in the entire United States with a similar 
population which have a larger number of volumes. 

It has numerous enjoyable drives, there being in 
the vicinity many picturesque lakes, while Riverside 
on the west bank of the Penobscot four miles below 
the city and easily reached by trolley cars, has one of 
the best appointed summer theatres in New England. 

Bangor has connection via the Bangor & Aroos- 
took Railroad both at Greenville and Brownville Junc- 
tion with the Canadian Pacific Railway. By means 
of this great trans-continental railroad direct commu- 
nication is enjoyed with the west and the Pacific 
Coast, while in connection with the Soo Line, Bangor 
is brought nearer Minneapolis, St. Paul and the North- 
west than any other seaboard city. 



It has four national banks with a capital of 
$650,000 ; three trust and banking companies with a 
paid in capital of $475,000, and two savings banks 
with assets of $7,634,820. Bangor's financial institu- 
tions are sound and housed in handsome and commo- 
dious quarters. 

Bangor was the first city in the state to have an 
electric street railway in successful operation, as it 
was the first city in the state and about the first in 
the country to have a steam railroad. And it will be 
recalled that the first iron steamship built in America 
ran to this port and was christened Bangor. 

It has been a pioneer in every form of electrical 
development, and the power station of the Bangor 
Railway & Electric Company on the Penobscot, four 
miles above the city, is one of the earliest if not 
indeed the first example of harnessing water power 
and transmitting it electrically a considerable distance 

It has in the system of commercial lighting oper- 
ated by the Bangor Railway & Electric Company 
37,900 electric lights in Bangor and vicinity, the 
record of an excess of a light for each unit of popula- 
tion being an unusual one, one and a half lights per 
capita being the highest record of any city in the 
country. 

An analysis of the freight trafiic statistics of the 
Bangor & Aroostook Railroad shows that for the last 
railroad year there were transported 2,231,680,962 
pounds of freight, an increase of 251,344,474 pounds 
over the record of the previous year. The shipments 
of potatoes over the B. & A. of last season's crop 
aggregated 7,724,952 bushels, 1,030,881 bushels greater 
than the previous year and eclipsing all previous 
records. 



The number of vessel arrivals in the port of Ban- 
gor during the past year was 1515 ; of these thirteen 
were from foreign ports, and during the same time 
there were twenty foreign clearances. The receipts 
by vessel during the past year included 361,680 tons 
of coal. 

The lumber surveyed in Bangor during the past 
^ year amounted to 187,854,827 feet, which quantity 
has not been exceeded since 1872. The grand total 
of lumber manufactured on the Penobscot from the 
earliest times down to the present is 11,371,836,882 
feet, an amount sufficient to encircle the globe more 
than eighty-six times. \i^^ iS < ' • 'j^i' 

The Maine Central Railroad brought during the 
past year to Bangor 205,221 tons of freight, and for- 
warded 357,823 tons from Bangor during the same 
time, making a total of 563,044 tons. There are 
eighty-four regular trains in and out of Bangor daily, 
62 of these passenger trains and 22 freight, besides 
numerous special trains. 

In the vicinity of Bangor the Condeskeag Canoe 
and Country Club, the Meadow Brook Golf Club and 
the Niben Club have handsome and commodious 
homes, and the new club house now building for the 
Tarratine Club at an eligible site overlooking Centre 
Park in the heart of the city, is to be one of the finest 
clubhouses in New England. 

The Bangor Customs district reports for the last 
fiscal year exports amounting to $1,732,603 and the 
imports for the fiscal year were $1,407,264 ; while the 
^ exports by vessel were for the calendar year $254,- 
399.06 and included 6,936,847 feet of white birch spool 
bars to Hull, England, and Androssan, Scotland ; and 
1,487,780 feet box shocks to Palermo and Messina, Italy. 



It has the honor of having the first National Bank 
in Maine organized under the national banking act, 
evolved out of the government's financial needs in 
the dark days of the Civil War. Of the nine national 
banks in Maine, with a surplus in excess of the amount 
of capital stock three of these are located in Bangor, 
and the oldest of the trust companies in Bangor also 
has a surplus in excess of its capital stock. 

The New England Telephone & Telegraph Com- 
pany reports 2800 subscribers in the city proper, and 
including the suburban lines the number in the Ban- 
gor district is 3300. In recent years there has been a 
very large development of business and Bangor's 
record of one telephone to every ten of population is 
equalled by few cities in the country. In the Bangor 
district the toll and exchange wires aggregate 3000 
miles of wire. 

The city and its environs are linked together by a 
system of electric street railways, modern in equip- 
ment, with an abundance of power and under enter- 
prising and progressive management and the service 
being first class. There are sixty miles of electric 
street railway in Bangor and vicinity, all owned and 
operated by the Bangor Railway & Electric Company. 
Diuring the last railroad year the lines of the company 
transported 4,114,715 paying passengers, and the cars 
ran a total mileage of 995,000 miles. 

It has two large and flourishing Building and Loan 
Associations with resources aggregating $421,841.36. 
It is estimated that between 600 and 800 dwellings in 
the city have been built or acquired through the 
instrumentality of these organizations. Bangor has 
been the pioneer in the movement of Building and 
Loan Associations, and one of these was among the 



first to be organized in Maine and is still the largest 
in the state. Upwards of a dozen of the Building and 
Loan Associations now in Maine were organized 
directly through the efforts of Bangor citizens. 

As indicative of the city's expansion the receipts 
of the Bangor Post Office have increased since 1880 
from $25,094.88 to $101,132.79, an increase during the 
past fiscal year of $10,590.06. During the past year 
the number of pieces of mail registered aggregated 
19,715 pieces, a gain of 3,578 over the previous year. 
From the city eight rural free delivery routes radiate 
in different directions. 

The phenomenal activity in Bangor's real estate 
market is shown by an examination of the assessor's 
books. In making up this year's records there have 
been between 1500 and 1600 changes in entries, the 
largest by far in the history of the city and a remark- 
ably large number for a city the size of Bangor. 
Each change on the books does not represent a trans- 
fer in real estate, but in all probability the sales and 
transfers of Bangor real estate during the year are 
about 1000 in number. 

Bangor's streets are lighted with electricity gen- 
erated by a model plant of its own, power being fur- 
nished by the Bangor Water Works. The Bangor 
Railway & Electric Company furnish light and power 
in large quantities for domestic and commercial pur- 
poses and the Bodwell Water Power Company will also 
furnish electric power. Cheap electric power at tide- 
water means much for Bangor, and this is destined to 
be an important factor in the development of the city 
along industrial lines. Manufacturers before decid- 
ing where to locate should consider Bangor's advant- 
ages and confer with the Bangor Board of Trade. 



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